| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? 00:44 - Mar 6 with 4451 views | TractorFrog |
With a lot of talk of how Ipswich are struggling at the moment and it might be worth trying something different, I would like to suggest that it could be worth trying Massimo Luongo from the start again in the Premier League.
The chant from the Ipswich fans is 'he's here, he's there, he's every f**king where', and this is basically why I think he is worth a go. When Luongo plays, you can never forget he is on the pitch because he is constantly hassling people on the ball and covering a lot of ground, and this was very evident at Nottingham Forest, albeit with a few mistakes in there as well, but he has hardly played this season.
McKenna likes to bring on Jack Taylor whenever we are chasing a game, I think in the hope that he will recreate those two thunderbolts against Wolves and Swansea last year, but when he isn't doing something amazing like that, he can often be a bit anonymous in games. Jens Cajuste looks an extremely talented player with the way he can turn his man and then fly down the pitch, often beating another player or two in the process. You would think he would be a huge asset from an attacking perspective, but the first goal against Chelsea is the only one I can think of where that skill was particularly crucial to the goal. So I think it is worth trying something different.
Kalvin Phillips is quite a similar player to Luongo in that he is always hassling the ball and covering a lot of ground, but the stats would suggest we don't get many points when Phillips starts, maybe because it feels like he often gives away fouls when tracking back around the penalty area in a way that Luongo didn't last year. Probably because of the higher standard of opposition, but 37/46 games in a championship side that finished second is enough to be worth checking.
Luongo has only started two Premier League games this season, both losses, but they were against Liverpool and Man City and were much better overall performances than the reverse fixtures.
Defensively is where I think Luongo would be most useful to this team. Last season I often listened to games on TownTV and it felt like a regular occurrence that Glenn Wheeler's voice would get more high-pitched as the opposition were attacking, then would relax and say 'brilliant challenge from Luongo'. That's been missing a bit this season without him.
Related to this, one problem for the team this season compared to last is that Leif Davis has been considerably less effective. Last season, he would bomb down the wing and provide all sorts of assists, but rarely seemed to be caught out at the other end as a result. This season, he continues to bomb down the wing but is providing less attacking threat from it, and then quite often is caught out of position and the opposition can score on the counter.
The relative lack of attacking threat is partly down to stronger opposition giving Davis less time and space on the ball, and partly because the rest of the team use him less, with the likes of Burgess, Woolfenden, Chaplin, Broadhead and Hirst more likely to pass to Davis than their replacements. But I think getting caught out defensively could be related to the fact that last season, when Davis went forward, Luongo would drop into the left-back position and give him more attacking freedom, in a way that Cajuste doesn't. Some of the goals this season where Davis was blamed for not sticking with his man, most recently the Brennan Johnson goals for Spurs, could perhaps have been prevented if Luongo had been there as an extra option defensively to mark him.
I think this could be a way of sorting out the defensive problem at left-back, rather than playing Townsend who doesn't provide the same attacking threat as Davis. Having Luongo play a similar role to last season could also make Davis a bit more effective in attack as he would have more freedom and would leave the team less open when he went forward, which could have a greater hand in scoring more goals than what would be lost by not having Cajuste's runs. I would also play Burgess and Broadhead if possible to restore some familiarity to the left-hand-side that was so crucial to our success last season. It might not work, but after five defeats in six, I think it would be worth a try.
So my team for Palace would be:
Palmer
O'Shea Woolfenden Burgess
Johnson Morsy Luongo Davis
Philogene Broadhead
Hirst
This is assuming Hutchinson and Tuanzebe are not available, otherwise they would replace Philogene and Woolfenden.
I feel I should also justify starting Hirst instead of Delap. I think Liam Delap, while he is clearly our most talented player, is effective in a bit of a one-man-band way, in that when he gets the ball he can single-handedly take it down the pitch and have a very good shot, fashioning a chance from nothing, but he doesn't pass the ball much. George Hirst links with the other attackers better, and is more of a player for the Ipswich system. I think that sort of striker is the way to go at the start of the game, and then Delap is who you want at the end when it all gets a bit more desperate, but I would generally want to bring him on a bit earlier than has been the norm for substitutes this season, although it depends on the circumstances of the game. Again, it might not work but after five defeats in six, it is worth a try.
I also think that it's been a theme this season that having more players from the promotion squad tends to lead to a bit more passion and desire in the team, which can sometimes count for more than the extra talent of the new signings. |  |
| They'd all laugh at me if they knew what I was trying to do. To create a new strain of super-wine in half-an-hour with a fraction of nature's resources and a FOOL for an assistant. 'Bernard Black, he's mad,' they'd say, 'he's insane, he's dangerous.' Well I'll show them! I'll show them all! | | Poll: | Who should start in CM with Cajuste? |
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| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 16:55 - Mar 6 with 662 views | gsoly |
Downes would cost us circa £12-15m I'd imagine. Well worth the investment considering he'd be our starting CM for the next five years. |  | | |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 17:20 - Mar 6 with 632 views | Phantasm |
I laud the OP for a well-reasoned post and backing up the points made; a rare quality in current climes.
However as much as I love Mass and he's one of The Boys that should never buy a drink in Ipswich as long as he should live, he just didn't pass the eye test for me on Monday. Comfortably behind the play in seemingly every phase I can't see a world where he does the job we need at this level. |  | | |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 17:20 - Mar 6 with 631 views | NthQldITFC |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 16:55 - Mar 6 by gsoly |
Downes would cost us circa £12-15m I'd imagine. Well worth the investment considering he'd be our starting CM for the next five years. |
Does he have the elite physicality we need in there in the Prem? How has he been for Soton this year? |  |
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| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 19:12 - Mar 6 with 592 views | buoyant |
"would it be worth starting ML in the Prem?"
AI generated result C&P .... |  |
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| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 19:43 - Mar 6 with 539 views | BlueForYou |
Downes has hardly ripped up trees for Saints this season. You would think he would have done better, now he’s fallen out with the new manager! Think £15 million for him is very optimistic. We should be looking for better. |  | | |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 20:21 - Mar 6 with 503 views | lazyblue |
He cant play again at this level | | | |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 01:13 - Mar 7 with 413 views | Skip_Intro |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 17:20 - Mar 6 by NthQldITFC |
Does he have the elite physicality we need in there in the Prem? How has he been for Soton this year? |
Nope |  | | |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 10:21 - Mar 7 with 323 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| Try Luongo at Crystal Palace? on 16:55 - Mar 6 by gsoly |
Downes would cost us circa £12-15m I'd imagine. Well worth the investment considering he'd be our starting CM for the next five years. |
I doubt it would be that much given the bin fire that is Southampton’s season. If we are looking to bounce back straight away we need to look at players that could improve, and on the evidence of this season Downes has had little impact. Imagine Southampton are in for a demolition man style rebuild after this season… | | | |
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